schiphol

Schiphol Airport is getting help from various government services as well as citizens this busy summer period, State Secretary Sharon Dijksma of Infrastructure announced on Friday. "We are doing everything to prevent repetition", she said to the Telegraaf, referring to massive crowds, delays and long lines at the airport during the May holidays.

Despite increasing passenger numbers, big crowds and sometimes long queues at Schiphol airport, air passengers in the Netherlands had to deal with fewer long delays over the past quarter, according to figures from EUclaim, De Telegraaf reports.

Between April and June there were 1,436 flights that were canceled or delayed for more than three hours, about 60 less than in the same quarter in 2016. Last year air traffic control strikes in France and Italy caused problems across Europe.

So-called credit card knives are an increasing problem at Schiphol. Nearly 900 of these weapons were seized at the airport over the past four months, a spokesperson for the Koninklijke Marechaussee said to RTL Nieuws.

These knives fold into the size of a bank card or credit card and can slide into a wallet. Once unfolded, the slim knife is about 6.5 centimeters long. They fall under the arms law and are therefore forbidden at the airport.

Municipal public transit company GVB is calling on Amsterdam to commit to building another new subway line in order to keep up with the city's growth. In addition to the new Noord-Zuid subway line set to start operating next year, an Oost-West line will also be needed, GVB director Alexandra van Huffelen said in an interview with NRC.

Schiphol airport is taking a number of extra measures to battle long waiting times and chaos at the airport during the summer holidays. Measures includes extra security personnel and technicians on permanent standby in case of IT problems, NOS reports.

Schiphol airport and the Koninklijke Marechaussee are preparing to start a test with facial recognition technology at passport control. The first travelers to take part in this experiment will be a limited group of people traveling from the Schengen area, with a stopover in Amsterdam, to a destination outside of the Schengen, according to AD.

Schiphol airport plans to reward travelers who check in their luggage with shorter waiting times at security checkpoints. From next week, people traveling without hand luggage can join the 'no trolley queue', where security checks are expected to be much faster, RTL Nieuws reports.

Amsterdam and Schiphol airport will soon be home to screens and billboards showing various attractions in The Hague. The two cities teamed up for a campaign to tempt tourists into visiting The Hague, instead of spending all their time in crowded Amsterdam. The campaign's motto is capital city to court city, ANP reports.

Amsterdam is traditionally very popular with tourists, and tourist numbers are expected to only increase in the coming years. And while this is great for the economy and employment, it also affects Amsterdam residents.

Lelystad airport may accommodate some 25 thousand annual flights within four or five years after its extended runway opens in April 2019, the Ministry of Infrastructure and Environment confirmed to the Telegraaf.

Schiphol Airport in Amsterdam overtook Heathrow airport in London as the European airport that offers the most direct flights, according to a new report by industry organization ACI Europe, Het Parool reports.

The Amsterdam airport is now the European airport that offers the most direct flights with 4,861 direct flights a week. That is a 20 percent increase compared to 10 years ago. Heathrow reduced the number of direct flights slightly during the same time period. As dit other rivals like Charles de Gaulle in Paris.

The Koninklijke Marechaussee may soon be performing go-slow labor actions at Schiphol and other airports during peak summer times in protest against their new employment conditions. These actions can cause major delays during the summer peak, the unions for the armed forces announced, Het Parool reports.

A parent or grandparent traveling with a minor child through Schiphol Airport this summer, should take extra time for an additional security check into account. The Koninklijke Marechaussee implemented an additional check in the fight against child abduction, ANP reports.

If you are a family member traveling alone with an underage child, you need the permission from both parents to do so. In this additional check, the Koninklijke Marechaussee will check whether this permission is in place for each child not traveling with both parents. This check could take some time.

Relatives of MH17 victims will be allowed to view Schiphol security camera footage of their loved ones checking in for the Malaysia Airlines flight - the last footage recorded of the victims, the Ministry of Security and Justice decided. When and how this viewing will happen is still being considered, AD reports.

Nine people were injured when a KLM flight hit massive turbulence on its way from Amsterdam to Hong Kong on Sunday, according to local news site The Standard. The Boeing 747 went into what passengers describe as a "free fall" about half an hour before landing in the Chinese city, according to the site. Eight people - six passengers and two crew members - were taken to hospital after the plane landed.

The victims are four women and five men between the ages of 31 and 55 years. One sustained a minor head injury and refused to go to hospital afterwards.

Transavia has to pay compensations to passengers for a flight delay caused by the pilot being attacked by two passengers, Luchtvaartnieuws.nl reported on Tuesday. The airline claimed force majeure - unforeseeable circumstances out of their control - on the incident, but the court disagreed.

Three suspects were arrested in connection with the theft of 7 million euros worth of Apple products from an industrial terrain on Schiphol airport in December, the Koninklijke Marechaussee announced on Tuesday.

In December the suspects drove onto a Schiphol business area with a truck. They loaded the truck with 46 pallets of Apple phones and tablets before taking off. The stolen products were worth about 7 million euros.

Shortly after the theft, some of the stolen goods were listed for sale on line. Some were also found in a warehouse in Delft.

Schiphol struggled with a fuel supply disruption for a short time this morning. The problem has since been resolved, but it will take some time before all flights are departing back on schedule, a spokesperson for the airport said to NOS. About 50 flights are delayed.

"We are still working on getting everything started, so we still expect some slight delays", the spokesperson said. "Aircraft arriving at Schiphol that need to be refilled, must go to the end of the line before they are refilled. This may take a while."

Schiphol Airport will open all security gates in Departure Hall 1 during the summer season to help deal with the expected crowds. All security gates in Departure Hall 2 will also be opened if necessary, the airport announced following consultations between State Secretary Sharon Dijksma of Infrastructure, Schiphol CEO Jos Nijhuis and KLM CEO Pieter Elbers, NU.nl reports.

A Jet2 plane had to make an emergency landing at Schiphol Airport on Tuesday evening due to technical problems. The Boeing 757 landed safely and no one was injured, AD reports.

The plane was on its way from Kos, Greece to Leeds, England. The exact reason for the emergency landing is unclear, though several media sources report that the plane flew the last few minutes with one of its two engines turned off. That would indicate fuel or engine problems, according to AD.

It seems that crowded halls, long lines and hours of waiting times at Schiphol airport are here to stay. According to CEO Jos Nijhuis, travelers face at least another 100 "black Saturdays" at the airport this year, and the coming two years will probably be busier. There is no escaping it, he said according to newspaper AD.